April 2, 2006
Drug ring phone cards on sale in jail
The war against drugs is being undermined by a black market in mobile phone sim cards containing details of drug dealing franchises, reports The Telegraph.
Recently jailed prisoners are selling the cards to inmates nearing release for up to £20,000. Each contains a microchip storing the telephone numbers of drug suppliers and addicts, which were once in the memory of the dealer's phone. That information provides access to an established drug-dealing network, with the potential to earn thousands of pounds a week.
Experts are worried that the illicit trade is hampering police efforts to close down drug networks because a criminal, armed with the information on the sim (subscriber identity module) card, can replace a dealer who has been locked up.
"Sim cards have become big currency in prison because they can contain the key to a criminal enterprise," said one prison officer. "It is the equivalent of handing someone a ready-made business. If someone goes to prison for a long time because of a drugs offence it makes sense for them to sell their sim card. The addicts will not be too choosy about where they get their drugs from."
Because of their size, sim cards are difficult to detect.
The prison officer added: "Sim cards are very small and easy to hide. Prisoners can keep them in their mouths and all sorts of places without fear of being detected."
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